Government will continue to pay for Dasmunsi’s hospitalisation

Dasmunsi has been admitted at Apollo Hospital for several years where he is getting supportive care.

The NDA government at the Centre will continue to pay for former Congress minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi’s stay at a private hospital in the city, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

Dasmunsi has been admitted at Apollo Hospital for several years where he is getting supportive care.

However, doctors say the care can be replicated at home with trained staff as the 69-year-old senior Congress leader does not need mechanical help to perform essential body functions.

“If the family does not want to take him home there is nothing the government or the Health Ministry can do about it. But the government will not make any move to deny treatment to him either. He has made a lot of contribution to society and it is now in a sense the society’s turn to give it back to him,” Dr Harsh Vardhan told The Indian Express before he left for the US on an official visit.

Dasmunsi suffered cardiac arrest in 2008 which cut off blood supply to a part of his brain causing irreversible damage. His body systems are functional but he breathes through a tracheostomy tube attached to his neck and is fed through a PEG tube in his stomach.

All basic life functions like breathing, blood pressure, sleep awake cycle are stable but he is not conscious of his surroundings.

He is not on life support any more but is undergoing rehabilitative care in one of the most expensive private hospitals in the city at government’s expense.

While the hospital did not give out details of his treatment, conservative estimates suggest his bill could range Rs 30,000-40,000 per day.